UAV-SfM Photogrammetry for Canopy Characterization Toward Unmanned Aerial Spraying Systems Precision Pesticide Application in an Orchard

作者：Qizheng Bing, Ruirui Zhang, Linhuan Zhang, Longlong Li, Liping Chen · 发表于：Drones · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3390/drones9020151 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Remote Sensing and LiDAR Applications、3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage、Soil erosion and sediment transport

The development of unmanned aerial spraying systems (UASSs) has significantly transformed pest and disease control methods of crop plants. Precisely adjusting pesticide application rates based on the target conditions is an effective method to improve pesticide use efficiency. In orchard spraying, the structural characteristics of the canopy are crucial for guiding the pesticide application system to adjust spraying parameters. This study selected mango trees as the research sample and evaluated the differences between UAV aerial photography with a Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithm and airborne LiDAR in the results of extracting canopy parameters. The maximum canopy height, canopy projection area, and canopy volume parameters were extracted from the canopy height model of SfM (CHMSfM) and the canopy height model of LiDAR (CHMLiDAR) by grids with the same width as the planting rows (5.0 m) and 14 different heights (0.2 m, 0.3 m, 0.4 m, 0.5 m, 0.6 m, 0.8 m, 1.0 m, 2.0 m, 3.0 m, 4.0 m, 5.0 m, 6.0 m, 8.0 m, and 10.0 m), respectively. Linear regression equations were used to fit the canopy parameters obtained from different sensors. The correlation was evaluated using R2 and rRMSE, and a t-test (α = 0.05) was employed to assess the significance of the differences. The results show that as the grid height increases, the R2 values for the maximum canopy height, projection area, and canopy volume extracted from CHMSfM and CHMLiDAR increase, while the rRMSE values decrease. When t...